THE TPP IS UPON US
This material is time sensitive. Above all other issues we will discuss en route to Election Day 2014, this one has the potential to be fast-tracked, with little or no involvement of Congress, the body that is supposed to oversee such things. This august body has ceded its authority many (too many) times over the last 30-40 years. If we don’t act, they’ll do it again.
BE AWARE: This deal could be struck by the end of December 2013!
As surprised as I was to learn how few people among the millions of uninsured know that they qualify for the Affordable Care Act, what GOOD that legislation can do for them, even after two months of attacks by Republicans…..
…..I was NOT surprised to know how few Americans know about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and what HARM it can do us all.
This so-called agreement between the US and 11 Pacific Rim countries has been described by those who know as NAFTA/CAFTA on streroids, and the greatest single threat to personal liberties ever proposed.
There’s a reason why Americans don’t know about it.
The negotiators don’t want you to know about it. They don’t even want Congress to know about it. If they did, and if you did, there’d be OUTRAGE in the streets and all over the media.
Members of Congress who have taken the time to inquire about TPP have been granted limited access to various chapters, almost on a need-to-know basis, but not the entire text.
Thanks to wikileaks.org,
we have insights into this horrific agreement-in-the-making:
https://wikileaks.org/tpp/ Take careful note of this excerpt from the cover page:
"The TPP is the forerunner to the equally secret US-EU pact TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), for which President Obama initiated US-EU negotiations in January 2013. Together, the TPP and TTIP will cover more than 60 per cent of global GDP."
Thanks to the watchdog Public Citizen,
you can know what I know. And when you do, I defy you not to get angry.
Included here are the major points of the TPP and how this agreement, already a source of conflict between negotiating countries, can harm us, from the loss of jobs to the loss of internet freedoms and, most egregiously, to the loss of sovereignty.
Imagine an agreement that says, in effect, “anything we agree to that flies in the face of state and federal laws to the contrary, the nation must change its laws to conform. OR ELSE, your nation can be sued for any financial damages that might have occurred, because you prevented us from making monies.”
This agreement would permit foreign subsidiaries of US companies to sue the US government for damages and lost earnings. THINK ABOUT THAT! A subsidiary of General Motors, or Apple or Google could sue for damages because local communities refused to rewrite laws that protect our domestic environment. Imagine a Canadian company suing the US government for damages because we stopped the pipeline shipping tar sands across our nation. “Hey, that’s a foul! If we had that pipeline going full bore, we might have made as much as a billion dollars profit. Pay us!
This is only ONE example of the insanity included in this horrific document. To see more, go here: http://www.citizen.org/documents/TPP-corporate-factsheets.pdf
This is just one summary but it will open your eyes to the threats. Here are the major points from the three pages.
1. Claim: The TPP will “expand trade between the United States and existing FTA partners.”4
Fact: Since the existing U.S. FTAs with six TPP nations already zero out tariffs for most U.S. exports, the United States is not even discussing tariff reduction with most FTA partners in the TPP negotiations. Indeed, the lack of market access negotiations with existing U.S. FTA partners is a matter of some controversy in the talks. How can something that is not even under negotiation in the TPP be promised as a result of the deal?
2. Claim: The TPP will “open new markets in countries that are not current FTA partners.”7
Fact: U.S. exports have lagged under FTAs. Consider the most recent FTA for which the same claim was made: during the first full year of the 2012 U.S.-Korea FTA, U.S. exports to Korea dropped 10 percent. Plus, U.S. export growth to non-FTA partners is actually 38 percent higher than to U.S. FTA partner countries. How can we do more of the same and expect different results?
3. Claim: The TPP will “encourage companies based in TPP countries to increase their business investment in the United States.”14
Fact: Study15 after study16 has shown no correlation between a nation’s ability to attract foreign investment and its willingness to be bound to the extreme investor privileges that a leaked text reveals to be proposed for the TPP. With no proven upside, why would the United States expose itself to the proven downside of the extreme TPP investment terms that would empower foreign corporations to bypass domestic courts, drag the U.S. government to extrajudicial tribunals, and demand taxpayer compensation for policies that they claim undermine “expected future profits?”
This link shares the sections of the Trans Pacific Partnership that have been leaked so far. Note that none deal with economic trade issues like tariffs. They concern process issues that they are trying to use to codify agreements that, in effect take away nations’ sovereignties.
TPP IP
Section A: General Provisions Intellectual Property Rights
B: Cooperation in the implementation of International Agreements
C: Trademarks
D: Recognition of Geographical Indications
E & F: Patents, undisclosed Data, traditional Knowledge, Industrial Design
G: Copyrights & Related Rights
H: Enforcement
I: Internet Service Providers (& Appx)
Once corporations have successfully subordinated sovereignty to international contracts, our own legislators will lose all rights to control local, state and national decision making. Make a law to ban fracking in VT? Sorry, it’s against the TPP. Want to restrict dumping of toxic and hazardous waste in your back yard? Ditto. In fact, we have to rewrite existing local, state and national laws to conform with the TPP.
Interestingly, it’s not all about altering US laws. Part of the goal is to bring other nations into compliance with some of the horrible regulations we have here, and would like to be rid of. Prespcription drugs is a case in point. Many nations, like Canada and India and Mexico have much lower prices on prescription drugs. And, their approach to patents is much different (not favorable to the pharma giants). So, let’s sign agreements forcing them to adjust their systems to be more like ours, to the detriment of their citizens.
Corporations are attempting to rewrite the laws of the planet to suit themselves, and it will cost us all over time.
Write, call, email your representatives. Tell them to get educated on the risks of non-transparent negotiations. DO NOT let them cop a plea that it’s out of their hands, that no one tells them anything. They work for US, you and I. And, if they’re NOT, then November is the month we change them out.
Go online to the following sites: Sign up to stay abreast of the TPP and the other issues their staffs are covering.
public citizen.org
wikileaks.org
http://www.publicintegrity.org
(Wendell Potter covers Obamacare and healthcare in general. His book, Deadly
Spin is well worth the read.)
http://www.opensecrets.org
Coming next: While There's Time Let's Discuss Poverty
Anon,
Joe
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